The full program of the VII Summit of Regional Governments is now available

On the 14th and 15th April, regional stakeholders will gather in Rio de Janeiro to hold ORU Fogar’s VII World Summit of Regional Governments, a unique meeting that will allow the intermediate governments to talk about themselves and among themselves for the first time. At the Summit untitled “Regional governments, how can we become more effective?", Governors from Europe, Africa and America will share the changes to their territorial models since the beginning of the economic crisis and the way to face them, pursuing effectiveness and governmental excellence. 

The program of the meeting is structured in three different events. After the meetings held by nrg4SD and ORU’s work groups (Food Security and Post2015) on the 13th of April, to closed meetings for members only will take place: the Executive Bureau and General Assembly. A second part of the General Assembly will be open to the public on the 14th of April in the morning. After that, the VII World Summit of Regional Governments will start with an opening ceremony conducted by the Governor of the State of Rio de Janeiro, Luis Fernando Pezão, and ORU Fogar’s President, Paúl Carrasco. 

The first event of the Summit will be the signing of the climate change RegionsAdapt Initiative, promoted by the governments of Catalonia and Rio de Janeiro with the support of nrg4SD. After that, the first of six thematic roundtables will start, and for two days will address issues like sustainable territorial management, regional powers, regional governments funding, the keys to a successful relationship with the nation-states and the local levels, and protection of cultural diversity.

All presentations will be given by prominent personalities in regional politics, like Hugo Siles Núñez del Prado, Minister for Autonomies, Bolivia, or Ségolène Royal, French Minister for Ecology, Energy and Sustainable Development. There will be a strong presence of Latin-American governors from Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, Chile, Ecuador, Mexico, Colombia and Bolivia. Some international organisations, like the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations Human Settlements Program (ONU-HABITAT), the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the Latin American Development Bank (CAF) and the International Observatory of Participatory Democracy (OIDP) will participate in the Summit as observing members.

On the 15th April in the afternoon, the Awards Ceremony of the I Regional Best Practices Award, organised by ORU and the UNDP, will close the Summit. The call for entries will be open until the 15th March. All regional governments and networks the world over are invited to the VII World Summit of Regional Governments.  The complete program is available here and registrations can be performed through the platform oru2016assembly.eventbrite.es.